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Welcome to the June issue of The Cornerstone! Here's a message from Nancy Cardwell.
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Table of Contents: June 2021
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Photo above: Bluegrass Hall of Famer Doyle Lawson drops by the Foundation booth at his festival in Denton, NC last month, to try out the Z Mandolin raffle prize.
Welcome to June issue of The Cornerstone
With the increasing percentage of people vaccinated and less restrictive CDC and state guidelines, more of us are happily venturing out again to live bluegrass music concerts, jam sessions and festivals. I’ve been to two in the past month, in North Carolina and Virginia, and it feels pretty great! The IBMA Foundation had a booth at the Doyle Lawson Bluegrass Festival in Denton, NC May 6-8, which was enormous fun. Dozens of professional musicians, family bands, kids, teenage jammers, retired couples emerging from RVs, and other friends (new and old) dropped by the booth to say hello and try out the Z mandolin. It was a bluegrass family reunion, with a stellar lineup of bands who were every bit as thrilled to see live audiences as we were to see and hear them.
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Nick Khadder wins Strings for Dreams Bluegrass Raffle
The drawing for the grand prize of the Strings for Dreams Bluegrass Raffle was live-streamed at noon ET on Friday, May 14, on the IBMA Foundation Facebook page. Nick Khadder, a mandolin player from Alameda, California, is the lucky recipient of the last available carbon fiber Z Mandolin, as well as a custom Calton Case. A total of $16,080 was raised by the raffle, with 917 tickets sold. Proceeds will fund the IBMA Foundation’s programs and initiatives supporting the future of bluegrass music through education, academic and literary events, arts and culture programs, and historical preservation.
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Photos: Lucy and Nick Khadder (above and below) check out the Z Mandolin Nick won in the Strings for Dreams Bluegrass Raffle. (Who do YOU think is going to end up playing the Z Mandolin more---Lucy or her dad?)
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Bluegrass Education News
Please stay tuned to ibma.org and bluegrassfoundation.org for details to be announced this summer about IBMA’s World of Bluegrass events in Raleigh, NC, September 28 – October 2, which we expect to be a combination of in-person and virtual events in 2021. IBMA Foundation executive director Nancy Cardwell will be in touch with college-level bluegrass band directors as soon as more details are available about the 2021 Bluegrass College Band Showcase planned for October 1-2. If you direct a bluegrass band or ensemble at a university or college that has not previously participated, please contact Cardwell at info@bluegrassfoundation.org or 615-260-4807.
We heard recently from Tashi Litch about bluegrass music at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. As a part of a music department which embraces improvisational styles of music, a student bluegrass band has been active for the past three years.
Congratulations to all youth and family bands who participated in the 19th Silver Dollar City/KSMU Youth in Bluegrass Band Contest. Sylamore Special, from Mountain View, Arkansas, took home the top prize for the May 29 event. On June 12, at 7:00 p.m. Central, you can hear audio excepts from the competition at KSMU-FM online . (Photo above.)
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Photo above: Joe Craven and his mandolin, on PocketGrass
A project grant report from Wintergrass
We recently received the following letter (excerpted below) from Wendy Tyner, the Director of Philanthropy/Publicity for the Wintergrass Bluegrass Festival, which received a $2,500 grant for youth educational activities in 2021.
“Thanks to the IBMA Foundation’s generous financial support through the Project Grants program, Wintergrass was able to continue to provide bluegrass music education even in the midst of a world-wide pandemic. We were challenged in ways we could never have imagined. And yet, in the spirit of innovation and creativity during COVID, Wintergrass launched its first-ever streamed bluegrass program and music education series, creating the online origins of Pocketgrass, Workshops, The Youth Academy with ‘Mr. Joe’ (Craven), and the Youth Orchestra with three Seattle high schools and Seattle Pacific University’s orchestra."
READ MORE.
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Photo above: Members of the Jam Pak Band, a neighborhood bluegrass program in Chandler, AZ that was awarded an Arnold Shultz Fund grant in 2021 for their BanJam lesson series, pose with an acoustic bass recently given to them by the IBMA Foundation from an anonymous donor. (photo by Anni Beach)
Arnold Shultz Fund endowed, next grant deadline is Jan. 31, 2022
"The Arnold Shultz Fund is an initiative that welcomes the participation of people of color in bluegrass music," said Dr. Richard Brown of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who co-chairs the Arnold Shultz Fund advisory committee with Dr. Neil Rosenberg of Newfoundland, Canada. "As an African American who has played bluegrass music for over 60 years and co-founded the Boston Bluegrass Union in 1976, this initiative means a lot to me personally. The Foundation's support of the Arnold Shultz Fund emphasizes the board's belief that bluegrass music is for everyone who wants to play it or listen to it. We appreciate your support, present or future, as we continue to make Shultz Fund grants available to people from previously underrepresented backgrounds in the bluegrass music community."
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Jessica Lang
Spotlight on college scholarship recipient Jessie Lang
We recently received the following email (excerpted below) from Jessie Lang, a first-year student at Belmont University. The IBMA Foundation awarded Lang a college scholarship in 2020.
“The IBMA Foundation's Sally Ann Forrester scholarship helped me start college at my dream institution, Belmont University in Nashville! I used the funds to help with my tuition at the university. This scholarship allowed me to study music in various styles with very gifted professors, perform in Belmont's Bluegrass Ensemble, learn about the entertainment industry through the Mike Curb College of Entertainment, and be a part of the Honors Program. I've learned much more about music and various career paths in the field than I could've imagined in one year, and I will be studying abroad in Northern Ireland with the honors department next spring. I plan to immerse myself in Celtic traditional music and culture while abroad. This will fulfill a dream I have had for many years!"
READ MORE.
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Neil Rosenberg
Deadline to apply for Rosenberg Bluegrass Scholar Award is June 30
The Rosenberg Bluegrass Scholar Award annually recognizes the best bluegrass-related paper accepted by a juried academic conference during the previous year. Developing academic scholars eligible for this award are defined as graduate students in MA or PhD programs and recent PhDs (within five years of degree completion). The award’s name honors Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Neil V. Rosenberg, PhD, a noted bluegrass author and historian.
The objective of this award is to grow the academic awareness of bluegrass music by encouraging developing academic scholars to present research of high quality to fellow scholars on any aspect of the genre. The recipient of the Rosenberg Bluegrass Scholar Award, to be announced in early August, will receive a $500 honorarium plus admission to the next IBMA Business Conference and Awards Show.
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Thanks to our kind supporters in 2020-21!
Levels of support include:
- Benefactor (cumulative lifetime gifts to the IBMA Foundation of $100,000+)
- Angel ($10,000 and more)
- Multi-Platinum ($5,000-$9,999)
- Platinum ($1,000-$4,999)
- Gold ($750-$999)
- Silver ($500-$749)
- Patron ($100-$499)
- Friend ($1-$99)
Our gratitude is also extended to the members of our LEGACY SOCIETY who have included the IBMA Foundation in their estate planning/wills.
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IBMA Foundation Board of Directors: Fred Bartenstein; University of Dayton – Chairperson/ President; Alan Tompkins, Bluegrass Heritage Foundation – Vice Chairperson; Ruth McLain; McLain Family Band, Morehead State University – Secretary; Wendy Tyner, Wintergrass/Acoustic Sound – Treasurer; Kissy Black, Lotos Nile; Sam Blumenthal, The Blumenthal Foundation; Richard Brown, Harvard University, The Reunion Band; Becky Buller, The Becky Buller Band; Michael Hall, The Northern California Bluegrass Music Society; Arthur Hancock IV, Wolfpen Branch; Pat Morris, IBMA executive director; Peter Salovey Ph.D., Yale University; Michael Webb, University of Tennessee; Nancy Cardwell – IBMA Foundation Executive Director
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Copyright © 2021, IBMA Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is IBMA Foundation, 1183 University Drive #105-215, Burlington, NC 27215. Our Tennessee address is at: 4206 Gallatin Pike, Nashville, TN 37216. info@bluegrassfoundation.org. Tel. (615) 260-4807, https://bluegrassfoundation.org/ Do you want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
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